Two tribal elders of the Kondha tribe in Orissa State were arrested and intimidated by police for protesting against the planned construction of a new mine. The Orissa Mining Corporation which is a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources is planning to construct a bauxite mine in the Orissa hills. The Kondha people worship the hills as their god.

Look at this variation of the text, which describes a similar situation in Australia:

the first text refers to…but the second text refers to…..
a bauxite mine
a new mine
Vedanta Resources
Comalco
the Orissa Mining Corporation
the Queensland Government
the past
the present
indigenous people
the exploitation of indigenous people
the intimidation of indigenous people
both texts refer to…

Post your answer in the “comments section below but first answer the question orally:

How do the two texts differ?
[audio:differ.mp3]

Look at another headline:

Bodies found in lake may be missing Muslims

When we use “news headline English” we simplify.

“the bodies which were found in the lake”

becomes

“bodies found in lake”

About fifty human bodies have been found in a lake on the Serbian/Bosnian border. They are believed to be the corpses of Bosnian Muslims who disappeared from a nearby village in the 1990s. They were victims of ethnic cleansing.

Headlines are like notes. They are short forms or abbreviations. The headline is followed by a longer version of the same basic information with the details filled in.

Almost half a million people are to be relocated from Henan and Hubei Provinces for another Yangtze River Dam project. North China has only twenty per cent of China’s water but it has sixty-four per cent of the arable land and huge cities like Beijing and Tianjin.

Look at these phrases:

almost half a million
just under half a million
not quite half a million

Look at their opposite:

just over half a million

There is only one phrase. Now look at this scale:

all of the arable land.
almost all of the arable land
much of the arable land
a lot of the arable land
some of the arable land
a little of the arable land

“Arable land” means “agricultural land”.

News and weather Summary

Now listen to a summary. If you do not understand everything you hear, go back and read the text again. Look up all the new words in the dictionary.

2 Responses to “Almanac – 14 August 2010 – Saturday”

The first text refers to new mine, but the second text refers to bauxite mine.
The first text refers to Vedanta Resources, but the second text refers to Comalco.
Both texts refer to the intimidation of indigenous people.
Both texts refer to the exploitation of indigenous people.

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